


a drowning grip

by paravin



Series: last to see the light [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Abuse, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Extremely Dubious Consent, Gunplay, Humiliation, M/M, Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:35:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29268834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paravin/pseuds/paravin
Summary: Spider has better methods than just violence for keeping his newly-acquired Lightbearer in line.
Relationships: The Crow/The Spider (Destiny)
Series: last to see the light [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180733
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	a drowning grip

**Author's Note:**

> this is like 3k+ of Spider doing his very best to traumatise Crow. :( no explicit noncon in this one but there’s basically everything short of that so please proceed with caution as necessary. 
> 
> if Crow-related stuff is your jam, please go check out [this incredible fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29250123) by motorboats, it is SO GOOD. 
> 
> (also thank you to motorboats in general for yelling with me at length about Spider being a manipulative creep, you are the mvp as always.)

It takes him some time to get all the pieces lined up.

His associates are the easiest, of course. Brivi doesn’t bat an eye when Spider outlines his role — where to station his crew, at what point to intervene — and while Spider hasn’t missed the way some of his men have been eyeing his new pet, he’s confident none of them are foolish enough to cross him. Not for such a fleeting pleasure.

The two Awoken require more thought. They’ve been useful tools over the years, Corsairs who slipped Petra Venj’s leash in search of more profitable activities. However, the loss of a couple spies is a price he is more than willing to pay, particularly for the opportunity to instil Crow with a healthy fear of his own kind. 

And then lastly there’s Spider’s little bird himself.

It takes Crow longer to test his limits than Spider expected. Cowed by the violence of strangers and broken by the vacuum of space, he obeys all of Spider’s requests for weeks without complaint. 

It’s his chirrupy little scrap of a ghost that ends up causing trouble, whispering cruel hopes in his bird’s ear, and when Spider senses that his generosity is no longer appreciated as it should be, he finally takes action.

“They’re approaching, Baron.”

The pictures flicker on the bank of monitors as Spider leans back in his chair. He twists the fresh cylinder of ether into its slot and takes a long drag through his rebreather before responding to Brivi’s update. “Hold position. Do not let him or the Awoken see any of you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Spider tracks the feed of two cameras at once. Down in the depths of Quitter’s Well, Crow is prying salvage from a downed servitor while his insufferable ghost offers commentary and Spider switches his audio to the second feed as his two Awoken pawns wind their way down into the depths.

“-believe he’s giving the prince to us.” Saan shakes his head in disbelief as he grins up at Thax. “Guess he must be pretty impressed with our work on that ketch.”

They move close to one of the cameras and Spider chuckles when he sees Thax roll his eyes. He was always the sharper of the two.

“He’s not doing this for us, idiot,” Thax says, elbowing Saan in the side. “Something like this, it’s gotta be because he’s angry with Crow. We’re just the tools here.”

“Yeah, but tools who get to fuck the Queen’s brother,” Saan says, almost bouncing with excitement. “Spider can use whatever reasoning he likes — as long as we get to put that prick on his knees, we’re still the luckiest assholes in the whole damn Reef.” 

Thax sighs but from the smirk on his lips, he’s not opposed to the idea. “You need more hobbies.”

“What, you’re telling me you’re not looking forward to this?” He springs up and bats at the net of empty canisters hanging above them. “Didn’t that piece of shit kill two of your sisters?”

“Three.”

“Then you should be even more stoked than I am,” Saan says, slapping him on the shoulder. “I know it’s not as good as being the one to pull the trigger but hey, if we play our cards right, maybe Spider will let us but a bullet in him next time.”

From the way Thax hums, it’s a tempting prospect and Spider smiles to himself as he watches them stroll down into the Well. 

Crow’s ghost spots them first, shell spinning in a warning, and Spider takes another hit of ether as the two Corsairs split up with wordless nods.

Crow’s ghost blinks out of sight and Spider flicks between the feeds, trying to decide on the best angle at which to observe. The audio is clear enough thanks to the new equipment — he only expects to have to teach this lesson once, but intends to enjoy the show while he does so — and he leans forward when he hears Crow’s breathing grow shallow with panic.

He puts up a surprisingly decent fight. 

Even with Spider’s precautions — a gun prone to jamming, two nights of limited sleep, days of restricted rations — Crow holds his own for a while, darting through the buildings of the Well and nearly taking Thax’s arm off with a well-placed grenade. Still, he’s no match for the two of them, not in his current state, and as Thax kicks him off one of the platforms, Crow goes crashing heavily to the ground.

They’re on him like wolves before he can stand. Crow raises his hands in surrender, eyes wide with fright, but Saan plants a foot on his chest to keep him pinned as he smirks at him down the barrel of his gun. 

“Finally,” he says, out of breath but grinning. “Back in the dirt where you belong.”

Thax clambers down beside him, stretching his injured arm, and he lands a solid kick to Crow’s thigh in retribution. “I hate those fucking grenades.”

“I’m sorry,” Crow gasps. The white shroud pools beneath him, slipping back off his head to reveal his face, and he flinches when Thax leans down and tears it off him.

“Who the fuck buried _you_?” Thax grumbles, looking over the shroud and then tossing it away into the dust. “It’s more than most of your victims ever got.”

Spider’s grip tightens on the arm of his chair, and his finger hovers over Brivi’s comm. It’s one thing to teach Crow the dangers of the world outside Spider’s protection, but not at the cost of jeopardising Spider’s investment entirely.

“I don’t-” Crow starts but he falls silent when the barrel of Saan’s rifle comes to rest under his chin.

“I wouldn’t recommend talking,” Saan says helpfully. “I think we’ve both heard enough from you to last a lifetime.”

Spider’s seen Crow’s eyes shine with fear dozens of times by now but as Crow looks up at his captors, the sight isn’t getting old any time soon. 

The still-hot metal of the barrel drags up over his cheek, drawing a wince from Crow as Saan pushes his head to the side, and the two Corsairs exchange glances. 

“What if-” Thax swallows hard, checking the bullets in his hand cannon. “We could just finish him now. You know he deserves it.”

Spider’s frown of disapproval is mirrored on Saan’s face when he says in disbelief, “You really want to see what Spider’ll do to us for that?” He slaps Thax on the shoulder, nodding down to Crow. “C’mon, man. This asshole already made us work for it — the least we can do is have some fun now.”

Thax hesitates for a second but relents, lowering his gun, and Saan laughs in relief. “Good call.” There’s a dark smirk on his face as he says, eyes bright. “Hey, hand me that gun, will you? I got a better use for it.”

Thax frowns but complies, and Spider relaxes back in his chair as Saan’s rifle clatters to the ground. 

Crow’s face is pale with fright, gaze flitting between Saan and Thax as he tries to work out which is the greater threat, but he gets a clear answer when Saan crouches down beside him. He rests a knee on Crow’s chest and gives him a mocking slap to the face as he taunts, “You still with us there, asshole?”

Crow nods, mute, and Saan grins. “Good. Now, the way Thax and I see it, you owe us.”

Crow shakes his head. “Please, I didn’t do-”

Saan backhands him hard in response and Spider chuckles. It’s reassuring to see that Crow apparently can’t keep his mouth shut around anyone, not just him. 

“You owe us,” Saan says again while Thax crouches on Crow’s other side, “and so we’re here to get ourselves some payback.” His eyes glow as he winks. “Here’s hoping you can show us a good time.”

It’s punctuated by a sharp squeeze to his thigh from Thax and Spider drinks in every last ounce of the horror that spreads across Crow’s face when he finally realises what’s coming.

“No!” Crow’s struggles pick up, thrashing as he tries in vain to dislodge Saan from above him, and Spider smiles at the panic in his voice as he begs, “No, please. You can kill me, just please, please don’t—” His breath hitches. “I- I haven’t—”

Spider chuckles with delight as the mocking laughter of Thax and Saan trickles over the audio. 

“Aww, you hear that?” Saan teases, glancing back at his partner. “Looks like you get to be his first.”

“Won’t be the last,” Thax says. His hands go to his belt as he stands, and Spider watches as Crow looks around in desperation for some kind of escape route.

(There’s none, of course. Spider wouldn’t be that careless.)

“Maybe we should practice,” Saan says, and Spider lets out a pleased hiss through the rebreather when Saan’s hand closes around Crow’s jaw. Crow cries out as his mouth is forced open but freezes in terror when Saan pushes the barrel of the hand cannon past his lips. “Open wide.”

Spider’s honestly a little disappointed he didn’t think to do this first. He wants to be there himself, to have Crow’s pulse race beneath his fingers and to feel him gag as the gun is pushed in deep, but he’s forced to settle for what the video feed gives him. 

Crow’s eyes are wide, gaze darting between the gun in his mouth and the man above him, and his hands curl into helpless fists as Saan fucks the gun in past his lips in a parody of sex.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Saan chides. “Let me see some effort.”

Crow’s whimper is muffled by the metal in his mouth but Spider hears it nonetheless when Saan clicks the safety off. Tears trickle from the corners of Crow’s eyes as he fits his lips around the barrel, and Spider laughs around his rebreather at the sight of him sucking at the gun as best he can.

He definitely chose the right pawns here. 

“Enough,” Thax says, but he’s smiling as he lands a kick to Crow’s hip. “We didn’t come all this way down here just for him to blow my gun.” Another kick, hard enough to make Crow wince around the gun. “Turn him over.”

Saan shrugs. “Whatever you say.”

Crow gasps for breath when he pulls the gun out. Saan spins it in his hand, grimacing at the spit coating the barrel, and sneers as he pistol-whips Crow hard across the face. “Do a better job next time.”

Crow’s head snaps to the side as he cries out, hands coming up to shield his face, and Spider just catches the glitter of blood on his cheek before he’s forced over onto his stomach. 

Saan is on him again in an instant, wrenching Crow’s arm tight behind him and planting a knee the small of his back, but it’s Thax’s hands on the waist of his pants which make Crow yell in panic. He writhes, kicking out as best he can with his upper body pinned in place, and Spider switches feeds to get the best view of his face as he pleads, “No, please! Stop, please, I’ll do whatever you want—”

Crow’s terror is better than any ether and Spider revels in it.

On screen, Crow’s pants are hauled down, leaving him bare and struggling as Thax kneels behind him to shove his thighs apart. Spider almost wants to let it play out, test the limits of the Corsairs’ cruelty and creativity even further, but his need for control wins out over his curiosity.

“Brivi,” he says into the comm. “Bring me our friends.”

The words have barely left his mouth before a burst of movement fills every screen. 

Thax and Saan panic, scrambling away from Crow and reaching for their guns, but Spider’s men are too fast and too numerous. They wash over them like a tide, hauling the two Awoken away from Crow, and Thax doesn’t even get a chance to refasten his pants before his arms are bound behind him.

“No!” Saan shouts, struggling in the grasp of two vandals. “No, Spider said-”

“Shut them up,” Spider orders through the comm, and smirks as cloth gags are tied around their mouths before they can say anything more. 

While his men are less rough with Crow, the treatment is still far from gentle. He’s at least allowed to cover himself but he’s soon hauled along behind the two captives, his ghost now flitting at his shoulder, as Brivi leads them all out of Quitter’s Well and through to Spider’s lair.

Spider relocates to his throne before they arrive and watches, impassive, as all three of them are thrown to their knees at his feet. 

Brivi takes a knee beside them and doesn’t quite disguise the smile in his voice as well as Spider would like when he says, “My men found these two attacking your Lightbearer, Baron.”

Saan’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head, yelling desperately through the gag even as the dregs tighten their grip to keep him on his knees. 

For his part, Thax seems to have realised their role in the grander design and sits, bound and silent, as he waits for the axe to fall.

He was always the sharper of the two.

Rolling an empty ghost shell between his fingers, Spider leaves the Corsairs to stew for a moment as he drinks in the sight of Crow huddled between them. He looks smaller somehow without the cloak of his shroud, shell-shocked and shivering, and Spider’s fingers itch to prod at the angry wound on his cheek left by the butt of Saan’s gun. He has a smattering of other injuries, scrapes and bruises from the fight and from the roughness of Spider’s men, but from the way he curls in on himself, it’s the attempted assault that’s done the lasting damage. 

(Just as Spider hoped.)

Crow’s face is pale as he keeps his head bowed in contrition and it’s his annoying little ghost who speaks for him, “Baron Spider, we—”

“Silence,” Spider barks. Crow may have learned to obey orders but his ghost is apparently still struggling with the lesson. “You know I cannot let this kind of insubordination stand.”

It’s addressed to the Corsairs but his mouth curves in a surprised smile when Crow is the one who nods. “Yes, Baron.”

His voice is quiet and hoarse, and a dark little thrill runs through Spider’s blood at the memory of the gun pushing past those soft lips.

Saan keeps struggling, shaking his head in a plea for mercy, and Spider chuckles as he gestures to Brivi. Thax tenses at the sight of the knives drawn in response but goes still in defeat when one comes to rest against his throat.

“Let this be a lesson,” Spider proclaims. “A warning, for anyone who thinks to make use of the property of the Spider.” A wave of his hand, and Brivi’s claws tangle in Crow’s hair, forcing him up to his knees to bear witness. “Mount their heads outside when you’re done.”

“Baron, please!”

The knives have barely broken the Corsairs’ skin but Spider holds up his hand at the plea from Crow. He looks wretched, still shaken up from the attack, but there’s a gleam of hope in his eyes as he begs, “Don’t kill them. I- It was my fault. Please…”

“Crow!” the ghost hisses, and Spider bats him away in irritation as he slides from his throne. 

The swipe doesn’t land but the ghost at least has the good sense to vanish as Spider looms over Crow. “Now, how is it your fault, my little bird? Don’t tell me you encouraged them…”

Quiet laughter ripples through the room but Spider grips Crow’s jaw to hold his attention when he tries to look away. “N-No, Baron. Of course not.”

“Then how?” Spider presses. “What did you possibly do that could merit me sparing the lives of these two traitors?”

“I- I don’t know what I did,” Crow whispers, pleading. “The person I was before, he—”

Spider can’t help the laugh that spills from him. “That’s it? That’s how you caused this?” 

At his nod, Brivi steps back, releasing Crow’s hair, and Spider shifts his hand down to encircle Crow’s throat as he murmurs, “Let me make this very clear, little bird: whoever you were before has no place on my Shore. After all, I named you, didn’t I?”

Crow nods, gold eyes locked on Spider’s.

“You’re mine,” Spider reminds him. “My Crow, my enforcer, my _little bird_. And I will not tolerate other people taking what’s mine.”

With a wave of his hand, the knives begin to slice through flesh and Spider’s grip on his throat only tightens when Crow cries out in horror. Blood splatters across Crow’s face as the Corsairs’ screams are severed, replaced by the wet hack of metal through bone, but Spider’s eyes don’t leave Crow as he trembles beneath him. 

His breath comes quick and shallow with fear, his whole body flinching with each fresh spurt of blood, and Spider smiles beneath his mask as he soothes, “Deep breaths, little bird. You’re safe here.”

Crow obeys, pulling in slower, deeper breaths even as the blood of the Corsairs trickles down his cheeks. 

“Good boy,” Spider says, gripping his throat a little tighter in reward. 

Beside them, Brivi and his men depart, dragging the decapitated bodies with them, but Spider’s attention is on nothing but Crow. “I’m just glad my men got there in time. I’d hate to think what those Awoken would have done to you if I hadn’t been there to protect you…”

He feels Crow swallow hard, throat bobbing against his palm, but his voice is sincere when he stammers, “T-Thank you, Baron.”

With a hum of acceptance, Spider releases Crow’s throat and steps back smoothly. Crow nearly topples forward at the sudden lack of support but catches himself on his hands, before recoiling when he realises how much blood has pooled on the floor around him. 

He doesn’t move from his knees. He almost looks lost when he blinks up at Spider for instruction, and Spider extends his benevolence once again. “Come here, little bird.”

He sinks back onto his throne, beckoning Crow in. Blood soaks into his pants and boots as he crawls closer, settling almost between Spider’s knees, and Spider smiles as he holds out a folded cloth. “A gift. We wouldn’t want anyone else getting the wrong idea about who you belong to, would we?”

Crow’s gaze is distant as he reaches out to take the offered gift. The cloak itself is little more than a rag — Spider doesn’t want Crow to overestimate his worth, after all — but he can’t help his hum of satisfaction when Crow pulls it on, Spider’s sigil settling neatly over his chest. 

“There,” Spider says, approvingly. “Much better.”

Crow is silent as he looks down at himself, at the sigil, at the blood on his clothes, and ice edges into Spider’s tone as he prompts, “No gratitude?”

“Apologies, Baron,” Crow says. “I’m grateful, as always.”

The response is almost a reflex by now and so Spider pushes, firm but careful. “Surely you can do better than that, little bird? Especially after all the help I’ve given you…” 

Crow looks up at him with innocent confusion and Spider inhales slowly through the rebreather as he spreads his thighs beneath his robes.

Something flickers in Crow’s eyes. His lips part and for a second, Spider thinks that he’s misjudged it, that Crow’s going to refuse, but he can’t hide his triumphant smile when Crow just lowers his head in submission. 

“Whatever you wish, Baron.” Crow bows, shivering amid the pool of blood, and the tremor in his voice only makes Spider’s success that much more delicious when he whispers, “Thank you for your protection.”


End file.
